


A Dalish Hope

by IceQueenofMitera



Series: Dragon Age One Shots [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Dalish Origin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 09:54:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5739259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceQueenofMitera/pseuds/IceQueenofMitera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tamlen loved his best friend, Realin. But one mistake changes both of their lives forever and sends them both on opposite paths.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Dalish Hope

I loved her. I don’t remember when I first realized it but I just knew. The problem was, did she love me? And I was so afraid to tell her. What if she said no? A Hunter fears nothing but the chance that Realin would love someone else scared me. I should tell her before it was too late. She’d managed to get out of helping Master Ilen, he and Varathorn both were always trying to convince her that her hands would be better suited for the Craft than the Hunt. They should have known better when she chose Andruil’s vallaslin. Everyone knew that she was the former Keeper’s daughter and we all knew she’d witnessed her father and brother’s deaths, an event that had traumatized her. Marethari had made everyone promise not to tell her the truth of what really happened. I understood why. Realin was a strong willed woman. And a bit on the insane side. I wouldn’t doubt her killing every human she saw to avenge her family. So instead, she was lied to and told it was spirit possessed trees that had killed them.

 

I had always admired Realin. She was the best Hunter the clan had. And the smoothest talker. I can’t count how many times she, Fenarel, Merrill and I had gotten into trouble. She always talked us out of it. Save for the time we turned the camp topsy turvy brawling. I was caught and Realin’s silver tongue couldn’t get me out of that trouble. I spent a week cleaning up the camp, Marethari wouldn’t allow her to help me. But now we were adults. We were expected to bond and start our own families. And I was choosing her.

 

Today. Today I would tell her I loved her and ask for her hand. Today would be the day I confessed everything to her. But the Creators had a different path planned for us. They always said curiosity killed the cat and I was afraid my stupidity killed her. The Shems had told us about the cave and the lure of finding some secret of our people was too much for me to resist. And, naturally, Realin went with me. But all we found were spiders, walking corpses and a worn statue. Then we found the mirror. The only thing in these entire ruins that wasn’t marred with centuries of grime. I saw the movement and I had to take a closer look. Realin was cautious and I teased her about it. But for once, she was serious. She didn’t like the feeling in the air and warned me several times to get away from the mirror. But my curiosity got the best of me and I did something I will forever regret. I touched it. A creature that looked suspiciously like a dragon appeared and we locked gazes. I couldn’t look away! I felt Realin rush forward and then the blast of light. Hands roughly grabbed me and I lost my bearings. And Realin.

 

The song. The beautiful song. It was constantly in my head. I tried to block it but I couldn’t. It sang to me. It told me to do things I didn’t want to do. I lost my mind, my hair, my humanity. I lost the only thing I’d ever loved. I wasn’t Dalish. I wasn’t Tamlen anymore. I didn’t know what I was. I could barely remember who I was. I only knew the pain and the song. Get out of my head! Leave me alone! We were sent to deal with some of the fabled Grey Wardens. I saw her face again. Her swords were frozen in mid attack. She knew me for who I was. I thought she was dead. I never expected to see her again. Not in this world. She was a Grey Warden now, sworn to kill creatures like me.

“You…,” I couldn’t believe I was seeing her. My soul. “Realin…,” She took a step back, lowering her weapons.

“Mercy of the Creators!” she cried. “It can’t be!” I didn’t want her to remember me like this. I wanted her to remember her best friend. The man who’d she’d been friends with since childhood. The goofball. The brawler. Not the creature I was now.

“Don’t… don’t come near me! Stay away!”

“Stay back, everyone,” I couldn’t see who she spoke to. I could only see her. My Realin. My love. The one the song wanted me to kill. Seeing her face again gave me the resistance I desperately needed. I ran, ashamed at what I’d become. I hadn’t expected her to chase after me. I spun back towards her.

“Don’t… look at me! I am… sick!” I saw the pain. I was hurting her just speaking to her. How wasn’t she a creature of the darkness? How did she survive? I want to know but I was too ashamed to ask.

“Tamlen. What happened to you?”

“The song… in my head. It… calls to me. He sings to me!” The song was loud in my ears and I threw my hands over them in a vain attempt to stop it. “I can’t stop it!” With what little of my humanity that was left, I confessed what I should have confessed before the fateful day in the ruins. She needed to know. “Always… loved you, Realin,” I saw the hurt and regret on her face now. “Don’t want… to hurt you. Please… stop me!” I saw tears beginning to form.

“Don’t, Tamlen,” she said, her voice betraying her pain. “Don’t ask me to do that,” She looked at me, looking vulnerable. A strange look on her. “I wish we had never gone into that cave,”

“I’m… so sorry, Realin. Never wanted this… Please… end this!” She shook her head.

“I looked for you! The entire clan looked for you!”

“I loved… you. If you ever… loved me in… return…. Please… I don’t want to hurt… you anymore,” She was torn. I saw it in her tear filled eyes. She wanted to free me of my suffering, but she didn’t want to kill me as I was begging her to do. She finally nodded, sheathing one sword and putting her hand on my shoulder. I felt it tremble slightly. She wasn’t afraid of me or of the sickness I had. She placed the tip of her sword against my breast, over my heart. The one that always belonged to her. I reached out and touched my Realin’s cheek and nodded. I wanted the song to end. I wanted to end. I only wish that it didn’t have to be her hand that did it.

“May the Creators… May the Creators grant you peace,” Her voice broke with sorrow and she closed her eyes, not wanting to see her sword free me. Pain exploded through my chest and I gasped. She looked horrified at what she had done.

“Thank you,” I gave her a final smile before the darkness closed in around me. She had freed me from the song and the madness.

 

But I waited for her. I would wait for as long as it took. Then I saw her for the last time. She was as beautiful as I would always remember her. She seemed surprised to see me as I took her hand.

“I did not expect to see you again so soon,” I said. “I expected to wait on you for many a year,”

“You were waiting for me?”

“Of course. So many things were left unsaid before my mistake. I should have listened to you, Realin. You were always the cautious one. And you were rarely wrong. If I had listened to your warning, so much could have been avoided. We would still be hunting together and you would not have had to kill me,” She bit her lip and looked down. I reached up and lifted her chin. “Do not blame yourself. You have carried that guilt since the day you left to become a Warden. It was my mistake, not yours. And you shouldn’t have had to pay the price. I loved you. I should have turned back and made sure you would be safe. Instead, I wanted glory. It is you the minstrels will sing about, not me,”

“I will be forgotten over time,” I took her other hand.

“Isn’t that the fate of us all? To be forgotten,” Realin suddenly looked distracted. “We can spend eternity together now. In the Beyond,” She looked confused now and looked about her. I didn’t understand why she had such a look. Falon’Din approached us and I knew it was time for us to leave. But his words caused my heart to sink.

“You have a choice to make, young one,” he said, his voice deep. “You hover between life and death. Your willpower is allowing your heart to beat yet you have come here. You cannot be in both worlds. You must choose one,” Now I understood. Someone was calling to her. It hadn’t been my words at all. She bit her lip again.

“I…,” She looked at me, sadness in her emerald eyes. “I… I can’t, Tamlen,”

“You’ve done what you set out to do,” I said, hoping she would choose to join me. “You’ve slain the Archdemon,”

“But I cannot choose death,” I couldn’t make her choose to leave behind all that she loved for me. I nodded. I couldn’t rob Elise of the only other child she had left. I couldn’t take Braylyn’s sister from her.

“I will not force you to. I will wait for you,” Realin placed a hand on my cheek.

“No. You deserve a peaceful rest. Go,”

“Realin…,”

“Go, Tamlen,” She placed her free hand over her heart. “You will always be in my heart. You will always be a part of me. I will finally be at peace with myself knowing you have gone to the peace of the Beyond,” I placed my hand over the hand on her heart, my own breaking knowing that now we would never be bonded or have a family of our own. I leaned in and kissed her, just as I had always wanted to do. She didn’t protest. I wiped away the tear that was falling down her cheek.

“I never had the chance to tell you how much I loved you. I was going to begin a courtship when we returned to camp. I guess it’s too late now,” I smiled. “Goodbye, my love. May you find the love I was never able to give you. May the Creators guide the path of your life,” I reluctantly turned away and climbed into Falon’Din’s aravel. He clicked his tongue and the halla began to pull away. I turned and committed Realin into my mind’s eye as she held her hand up in farewell. I watched her until we passed through the Veil into the Beyond.

 

One day, we will be reunited. One day, she will return to me. But until then, I will always hold her in my heart. I hope she has beautiful children and earns the respect that she deserves. Her father once said that the Dalish should venture into the Shems’ world and learn their ways. It was his dream that the humans and the Elves see eye to eye, that our peoples have peace. I know he would be proud of her. I hoped she would succeed where he failed. I hope that my Warden would achieve a greatness no Dalish had ever achieved. I hope the pain I caused her will not hold her back from moving on. I loved her. I still love her. Forever.


End file.
